Verses 5a and 10b: “And they were not given authority to kill them [men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads], but to torment them for five months…Their power was to hurt men five months.” The “five months” that they shall torment may be explained—and I did not verify this. I should have. But, I thought this was an interesting point. Obviously, we’re still speaking about symbolic things—symbolic numbers, time frames, and so on. The fact that there is a period of time associated with this indicates that it is not eternal, that it is not a permanent thing, that it will have a beginning and an end. Someone said that the life span of a locust, from birth to death, is roughly five months. The symbolism here is that it does not last forever—there’s a limit to this torment. Exactly what that signifies is not perfectly clear, but I thought that was an interesting point.

[From saudiaramcoworld.com, an article written for Aramco World by Daniel Da Cruz, November/December, 1967, titled, “Plague Across the Land,” re: Locusts: “Young hoppers burst from their shells around sunrise and at once shed a thin white skin. The next day they begin to feed, and, as they grow, to shed at intervals the tough carapace that estricts each phase of their growth. One growth stage succeeds another until the inal moult when the hopper becomes a fledgling adult. Its length stabilizes at from two to three inches, but to achieve its adult weight of two grams the hopper has already eaten 10 times that weight—and it is only getting warmed up, for as an adult it can fly to get its food while as a nymph it could only hop. Flying or hopping, the locust will have but brief glory: its life span typically covers 14 days as an egg, 38 days as a hopper and 75 days as an adult, still time enough to consume 170 times its weight.”]

John foresees the actions of those who are tormented as they suffer, as they want to die, but are not able to die. Death, habitually, it would seem, flees from them, [verse 6]. This is the agony of a conscience that is stricken, and in life, suffering under the torment of evil. Yet, even the torture occurs in order that men may be brought to see the true nature of evil, and having seen, having experienced the true nature of evil, then turn from it in repentance. The nature of evil is to destroy so that men following evil come to their own destruction.

These first six verses of chapter 9 have described the origin and the tormenting power of these locusts.

Beginning with verse 7, we see a description of these locusts. [Verses 7-10: “The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. 8 They had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. 9 And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. 10 They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months.”]

It seems to be quite similar in nature to, and perhaps even drawn from, an Old Testament text. Joel, chapter 2 is a section of Scripture that talks about, that describes, The Day of the Lord. This phrase, The Day of the Lord, can mean several things. It can have reference to the final judgment, or it can have reference to intermediate type judgments. For example, the judgments that God brought upon the rebellious children of Israel. But notice Joel, chapter 2; and it begins with the blowing of a trumpet, no less:

Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the LORD is coming, For it is at hand: 2 A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, The like of whom has never been; Nor will there ever be any such after them, Even for many successive generations.

3 A fire devours before them, And behind them a flame burns; The land is like the Garden of Eden before them, And behind them a desolate wilderness; Surely nothing shall escape them. 4 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; And like swift steeds, so they run. 5 With a noise like chariots Over mountaintops they leap, Like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, Like a strong people set in battle array.

6 Before them the people writhe in pain; All faces are drained of color. 7 They run like mighty men, They climb the wall like men of war; Every one marches in formation, And they do not break ranks. 8 They do not push one another; Every one marches in his own column. Though they lunge between the weapons, They are not cut down. 9 They run to and fro in the city, They run on the wall; They climb into the houses, They enter at the windows like a thief.

10 The earth quakes before them, The heavens tremble; The sun and moon grow dark, And the stars diminish their brightness. 11 The LORD gives voice before His army, For His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His Word. For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; Who can endure it?

We note there the similarities between what the prophet Joel describes would come in the day of the Lord, and what John sees here in his vision.

John describes these locusts as being “like horses prepared for battle,” [verse 7]. Here’s another tidbit of information (and once again, I didn’t verify this), but there is a resemblance between a locust’s head and the head of a horse—it’s similar in its shape. Here’s the part that I didn’t verify: The German word for “locust” is derived from the word for “horse.”